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Old Photos Show Ga. Sheriff In KKK Party Costume

June 23, 2012 11:22 AM

This February 25, 2011 video image shows the image of an African American man behind a KuKlux Klan(KKK) robe on exibit as part of the "American I AM: The African Imprint" at the National Geographic in Washington, DC. The exhibit has gathered more than 200 artefacts from personal or museum collections, along with photos and film clips, to chart how 500 years of hardship, faith and creativity have forged African American history and how black Americans have left a deep imprint on US life. Through 12 galleries covering 13,000 square feet (1,200 square meters) at the National Geographic Museum, the exhibit also recalls the inhumanity and brutality that blacks endured for centuries at the hands of white people. AFP PHOTO/Karin ZEITVOGEL (Photo credit should read Karin ZEITVOGEL/AFP/Getty Images)

File photo of a KKK robe. (credit: Karin ZEITVOGEL/AFP/Getty Images)

CANTON, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia sheriff seeking re-election said political foes are trying to smear him by circulating old photographs that show him dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes at a Halloween Party.

“I don’t think anyone who knows me is going to think anything of this,” said Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison. “But it’s just sickening and it hurts my family.”

WSB-TV reported it obtained the photos, taken during the 1980s long before Garrison took office, weeks before the sheriff faces opposition to his re-election in Georgia’s July 31 primary.

Garrison admitted he wore a Klan robe and hood to a costume party, but insisted he has no affiliation with the group. He said he and a friend who also wore a KKK outfit were dressed as characters from the movie “Blazing Saddles.”

“I don’t deny it wasn’t stupid, looking back now,” Garrison said. “But there again I say what 21- or 22-year-old in this world hasn’t made some stupid mistakes?”

Still, the sheriff said whoever is circulating the photos is doing so for “purely political” reasons in an effort to derail his re-election.

David Waters, the sheriff’s primary opponent, said somebody showed him the photos a year but chose to ignore them.

Waters said he’s not the one circulating the photos, though he said they depict something about the sheriff’s character.

“It is a bad judgment call, and (that) type of clothing represents hate,” Waters said. “And I certainly don’t want any part of that.”

The Atlanta television station did not reveal who provided it with the photos of Garrison.

The sheriff said he hopes voters will more pay attention to his 20 years in office.

“I would just ask that they look at my honor and my integrity and the things we’ve done for this sheriff’s office,” he said.